2001-2005

Community Shares Thoughts, Feelings

Two months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Risa Mongiello ’03 asked students and staff at the Malott Commons if their lives had been changed in any way. Their replies:

I’ve become much more involved in activism. Things like getting papers done in time seem insignificant next to all the people who are suffering. – Claire Hermann ’02, One of five delegates representing Scripps College at the California Schools Against the War Conference in Berkeley

It’s made me realize how our government controls us and how fragile our society really is. – Laura Adrian ’05

Scripps students the morning of September 11It’s affected me because my mom is in the army. She was sent over. I did receive an e-mail from her recently telling me she thought she was in a safe place. I last heard from her a few weeks ago and I still read the e-mail over and over. – Stevie Lee ’05

I think it’s going to perpetuate hatred against Muslim Americans and other ethnic minorities. As a Muslim American woman, it’s hard for me to accept this patriotic sentiment. Americans’ perceptions are the media’s perceptions. We’re not individuals. I feel like some Muslim Americans are selling out to patriotism because they’re afraid. If we want to be individuals we have to take responsibility for our actions. – Zakiyyah Saafir ’03

If we continue to push military force on other nations, there’s going to be more destruction as a result of what we do in reaction to what’s happened to us. – Bevin Tighe ’05

I’m really upset with the media, especially with the anthrax scare. I think they’re making the situation worse. They’re instilling fear and worry in the public even more.- Meghan McCoy ’03

I’m not an American, so I’m not surprised. I guess I was just stunned that there was an attack on U.S. soil. I was frightened the day it happened, but afterwards I wasn’t. We’ve had terrorism in France too. So I know what it’s like. – Soizick Jaffre, French language assistant

I pay more attention to the news now. I feel more informed as far as our foreign relations are concerned. I know that the news is very filtered. It’s made me question how much we know about U.S. relations. There’s so much we don’t know about until it gets thrown in our face. – Lindsay Greer ’04